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U.S. Issues Worldwide Travel Alert; CIA Conceals Role After Benghazi Attack; Ariel Castro's Next Move; Texas Low on Letha Injection Drug

Aired August 02, 2013 - 14:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: A college professor's dark secrets revealed. Years ago, he murdered his entire family. Today, he teaches students. The school is standing by him but the mayor wants him gone.

I'm Brooke Baldwin. The news is now.

Investigation 17 floors up. An ad executive on a first date falls to her death.

Is al Qaeda planning to attack this weekend? The U.S., not taking any chances.

Plus, in one state, the plug gets pulled on a special plan to arm teachers, but the fight, not over.

And --

(SINGING)

BALDWIN: No stranger to drama, "Glee" announces plans to deal with the death of one of its stars.

All right, here we go on this Friday. Good to be with you. I'm Brooke Baldwin.

To hear the government tell it, there is danger afoot overseas right now, especially in parts of the Arab world. Today, the State Department is saying, watch your back if you travel.

Let me show you just a live picture from Cairo at this hour. This is the tip of the iceberg. When you think about really the chaos that is currently gripping the Middle East, North Africa, the government has said it will close certain embassies this coming Sunday, including the one in Cairo, based upon credible fears of potential unrest, potential attacks.

But now they're doubling down, because today Washington has issued this worldwide travel directive alerting us to potential terrorist attacks, especially in the Middle East. Let me quote here. It says, "potential attacks could occur in or could emanate from the Arabian Peninsula." That one is worth noting. The directive says there is a heightened threat "between now and the end of August" with possible targets including "subway and rail systems, as well as aviation and maritime services." This is serious stuff. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. NANCY PELOSI (D), MINORITY LEADER: The leadership of the House has been briefed on the subject. My -- my staff was at that briefing, and they briefed me as to what the basis of it is. Yes, we have been briefed. And now that it's in the public domain that the embassies will be closed and there's a travel alert for Americans traveling abroad, there's some understanding of the seriousness of the threat.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: So stay with me as we piece this whole thing together. Chris Lawrence joins me now from the Pentagon, Capitol Hill, CNN's chief congressional correspondent Dana Bash and Paul Cruickshank, CNN terrorism analyst.

So, welcome to all of you.

Dana Bash, let me just being with you.

We heard Leader Pelosi talk about briefing House leaders. You talked to the intel chair, Mike Rogers. What does he know? What did he share with you?

DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, I should clarify that our producer, Paul Courson, caught him on his way out when all of Congress was leaving. Everybody is gone now for five weeks.

Let me just actually play that sound and we can talk about it on the other side.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. MIKE ROGERS (R), MICHIGAN: You know, I mean, obviously, there's got to be some controversy on the bill but we're - we're going to -- we'll work through it. You know, we've worked through other controversial issues on the oversight bill. We'll work through controversial issues.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, and the things I see described in "The New York Times" about the - about what you were looking at are accurate, the idea of maybe putting the data in the hands of the private companies or (INAUDIBLE)?

ROGERS: We're looking at all of it.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK.

ROGERS: Yes. So we're trying to make sure we have all of it.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Congressman, can you tell us more about the worldwide threat leak (ph). What (INAUDIBLE)?

ROGERS: Obviously it's serious enough that we're taking concrete steps to make sure that our personnel overseas are safe.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: More broadly, how can Congress leave when there's so much unfinished business.

ROGERS: Well, there's plenty of those of us who will do national security work that will continue to do that work over the month of August.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Can you comment -

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Is the travel warning tied to the embassy closings?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: Now, he is obviously the Republican chair of the House Intelligence Committee. Brooke, just before coming on with you, I just hung up the phone with a Democratic source who is familiar with what is going on in the intelligence world who says that this is very significant. That what they were told was that this potential threat could be very soon. No specific date. Did not say what a source earlier today told me, which is that they'd known specifically that these embassies are the targets. That they have other chatter that might suggests it could be more broad than that.

But this is something that is, obviously, significant enough for not just the intelligence committees, which are generally briefed on issues like this, but the leadership as well. The vice president himself did that earlier this week.

BALDWIN: And, Paul, when I - when you read parts of these directives, you see Arabian Peninsula. I think Yemen, I think al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula. What does that say to you?

PAUL CRUICKSHANK, CNN TERRORISM ANALYST: Well, I think, Brooke, that there are some indications that this could potentially be a risk of an attack in Yemen from the group over there, al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula. This is a group that was driven out of the tribal areas of Yemen last year, but they've since regrouped and they've been launching quite a lot of urban warfare type of attacks, terrorist type of attacks. This is a group that in 2008 attacked the U.S. embassy in Yemen. It didn't breach the perimeter but it killed 16 Yemenese. So it has a track record, Brooke, of attacking American interest in the country.

BALDWIN: And, Chris Lawrence, when we hear about this, you know two directives given in two days, it certainly gets our attention.

CHRIS LAWRENCE, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Yes. Well, Brooke, from what we're hearing, the more we're hearing from sources, the more everything is pointing to, as Paul mentioned, Yemen. Specifically officials are looking at a potential threat to the U.S. embassy in Yemen between tomorrow and Tuesday. U.S. intelligence officials have been picking up a growing threat from the al Qaeda affiliate based in Yemen over the past several weeks. But it's really only in the last several days that they got additional intelligence. And after analyzing that, that's when they said there is a potential threat not only in Yemen, but also potentially to western targets in North Africa, in the Middle East. That is why you saw first the embassies close and then subsequently you saw the worldwide travel warning.

BALDWIN: Paul, before last year's attack on Benghazi, do you think the government would have gone to this length? Or do you think that these directives are in direct response to that and also the criticism that's ensued?

CRUICKSHANK: Well, Brooke, clearly that plays into the calculations as there have also been other plots against U.S. embassies in the region. In May there was a plot broken up against the U.S. embassy in Cairo. In November of last year, there was a plot against the U.S. embassy in Amman, Jordan. So it's not just Benghazi. There has been a sort of increased threat against U.S. interests in the Middle East. This is very much Ayman al-Zawahri's strategy, the leader of al Qaeda, to hit the United States in the Middle East. So a lot of concern about that, Brooke.

BALDWIN: And, finally, Chris, if you're an American, I mean, listen, this is, you know, this is the end of summer. Many Americans are traveling overseas. I don't know how many Americans are going to Yemen per say, but let's say you're headed to Europe. What sort of warnings or precautions should people be taking?

LAWRENCE: I think the worldwide caution is just to sort of keep your eyes open, eyes and ears open, be a little more alert than normal. Look, you know, there are going to be families taking their kids on vacation in Europe, people traveling home to the Middle East to see their families there. No one's saying, you know, cancel all your vacation plans. But I think in terms of the embassies, they did not want people lining up outside the embassies during these next several days when some of these threats may be at their highest, coming in to get visas and do paperwork and things like that, presenting a more obvious target, so to speak, for any potential attack. But in no way is this warning saying, Americans, don't leave the country over the next month. It's telling them, please be alert.

BALDWIN: OK. Chris Lawrence, Dana Bash, Paul Cruickshank, thank you all very much.

And while we're at it, CNN has uncovered information as to what has been happening at the CIA in the wake of that terror attack last September, we just mentioned it, Benghazi, Libya. We know four people were killed, including the U.S. ambassador, Chris Stevens. Sources now tell us dozens of covert operatives were on the ground that night and that the CIA is going to great lengths to make sure they don't talk. CNN's Drew Griffin has been all over that.

Drew. Incredible.

DREW GRIFFIN, CNN INVESTIGATIVE CORRESPONDENT: It is incredible.

BALDWIN: The numbers.

GRIFFIN: The numbers we're getting is interesting in terms of how many people were on the ground. But also just what lengths the CIA appears to be going to make sure none of them leak any of the information. This has raised a lot of interest in Congress today. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GRIFFIN (voice-over): CNN has learned the CIA is involved in what one source calls an unprecedented attempt to keep the spy agencies Benghazi secrets from ever leaking out. Since January, some CIA operatives involved in the agency's missions in Libya have been subjected to frequent, even monthly polygraph examinations, according to a source with deep inside knowledge of the agency's working. The goal of the questioning, according to sources, is to find out if anyone is talking to the media or Congress. It's being described as pure intimidation with the threat that any unauthorized CIA employee who leaks information could face the end of his or her career.

In exclusive communications obtained by CNN, one insider writes, "you don't jeopardize yourself, you jeopardize your family as well." Another says, "you have no idea the amount of pressure being brought to bear on anyone with knowledge of this operation."

ROBERT BAER, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: Agency employees typically are polygraphed every three to four years. Never more than that.

GRIFFIN: The rate of this kind of polygraphing is rare, according to former CIA operatives, including Robert Bear, now a national security analyst for CNN.

BAER: If somebody is being polygraphed every month or every two months, it's called an issue polygraph, and that means that the polygraph division suspects something or they're looking for something or they're on a fishing expedition. But it's absolutely not routine at all to be polygraph monthly or bimonthly or whatever.

GRIFFIN: In a statement from CIA Public Affairs Director Dean Boyd, the agency asserted its being open with Congress. "The CIA has worked closely with its oversight committees to provide them with an extraordinary amount of information related to the attack on U.S. facilities in Benghazi," the statement reads. "CIA employees are always free to speak to Congress if they want," and that "the CIA enabled all officers involved in Benghazi the opportunity to meet with Congress. We are not aware of any CIA employee who has experienced retaliation, including any non-routine security procedures or who has been prevented from sharing a concern with Congress about the Benghazi incident."

Among the many secrets still yet to be told about the Benghazi mission, is just how many Americans were there the night Ambassador Chris Stevens and three others were killed. CNN has now learned that number was 35, with as many as seven wounded, some seriously. While it's still not known how many of them were CIA, a source tells CNN, 21 Americans were working in the building known as the annex believed to be run by the agency.

The lack of information and pressure to silence CIA operatives is disturbing to Congressman Frank Wolf, whose district includes CIA headquarters in Langley, Virginia. GRIFFIN (on camera): What do you think is going on here? Is this an elaborate attempt to cover this whole thing up and push it under the rug?

REP. FRANK WOLF (R), VIRGINIA: I think it is a form of a cover-up and I think there is an attempt to push it under the rug. And I think the American people feel the same way. We should have the people who were on the scene come in, testify under oath, do it publicly and lay it out. And there really isn't any national security issue involved with regard to that.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The chair recognizes the gentleman from Virginia.

GRIFFIN (voice-over): Wolf has repeatedly gone to the House floor asking for a select House committee be set up involving several intelligence committee investigators assigned to get to the bottom of the failures that took place in Benghazi. More than 150 fellow Republican congressman have signed his request and, just this week, eight Republicans, including senators and members of Congress, sent a letter to the new head of the FBI, asking he brief Congress within 30 days.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BALDWIN: So, Drew, on that same vein, hearing from the congressman, talking about pushing it under the rug, talking about cover-up, we've heard that from Republicans ever since really this story broke.

GRIFFIN: Right.

BALDWIN: Now with the CIA. What is it that Republicans believe is being covered up?

GRIFFIN: I'm going to preface this by saying, they don't know.

BALDWIN: OK.

GRIFFIN: They don't know what it is. The speculation is this could all involve what they think is basically gun running. Collecting surface to air missiles from our Libyan rebel friends, who no longer need them in Libya, getting them through Turkey and into the hands of Syrian rebels who are fighting the regime in Syria.

Now, there were only two state -- two U.S. agencies there. The State Department, which completely denies it, although they say they were helping the Libyan government collect damaged, you know, dangerous weapons and help the Libyan government destroy them. They say they were not involved in any shipments. The CIA, on its missions, absolutely will not comment, as they never do.

BALDWIN: Drew Griffin, thank you very much. We'll see you next hour.

Coming up, if you have a tip for Drew and the CNN investigations team, I want to just pass this along to you. Go to cnn.com/investigate.

Coming up next, just 24 hours after Ariel Castro apologized to his victims, we now know his next moves, including what kind of life he will be leading for the rest of his life behind bars.

Plus, a ninth woman today coming forward, accusing the mayor of San Diego of sexual harassment. And she says she has a connection to Marilyn Monroe. Stay right here.

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BALDWIN: Well, it just keeps getting worse for the mayor of San Diego, Mayor Bob Filner, because a ninth woman now has come forward accusing him of sexual harassment. Her name is Emily Gilbert. She talked to our TV affiliate KSWB. She said that the 70-year-old Democrat grabbed her inappropriately. Gilbert, who works as a Marilyn Monroe lookalike, was hired to sing at a fundraiser. This was back in December. Filner, meanwhile, is rejecting the calls to resign. Instead, we heard from him a week ago today. Remember he said he's taking this two weeks to undergo intensive therapy. And that process begins on Monday.

Also today, we have some new details an Ariel Castro's next move. The scope of his crime so horrendous, so extreme, holding those three young women captive for years as sex slaves inside his own home, raping them again and again, using chains to control them. We watched this yesterday, this monster in court. He spoke out. He said he's not a monster. He said he's just sick and he is blaming his actions on his addiction to porn.

Well, now his words may help determine his future. Martin Savidge has been all over this one for us.

Martin, tell us, where is he going next?

MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Brooke. Well, authorities will not say when he's going to move because they consider that a security issue, but we do know where he's headed. That's to the Lorraine facility or institution, as it's called, the correctional facility.

And the best way to describe that -- it's about 30 miles to the west of this city -- is it's kind of the welcome center, for lack of a better word, to the Ohio penitentiary system. And there he's going to undergo some evaluation, physical and mental. And that kind of gets to the issue he was trying to bring up yesterday, as per his attorneys, that he suffers this kind of sickness, this addiction. So it's possible that evaluation could be made.

After that, then they're going to try to determine, all right, where does he get warehoused, as it were, for about 1,000 years? Essentially they'll look at the various sites around the state of Ohio, but they also have ones that are specifically set up to handle violent sexual offenders. He may go there. His family is concerned he needs to stay out of the general population because he may be considered the kind of trophy kill to other potential inmates. So they're very worried about his safety. But right now, that determination as to whether he'll be isolated or not has not been made.

BALDWIN: So, hang on, let me go back to this whole bit about being, you know, this trophy prisoner. I mean I think it's hard to find anyone who has an ounce of sympathy for this man. But - so you're telling me, you talked to family members - and I remember you had the sit-down with his two brothers who, you know, they want nothing to do with him.

SAVIDGE: Right.

BALDWIN: But his family is -- they're still concerned about him?

SAVIDGE: Yes. His mother, of course, is his mother and that bond is never broken. And so there are family members that are concerned for his safety in prison. That's not to talk about whether he deserves to be in prison, it's while he's there. And the fear is that there could be other inmates - and they look at the case of Jeffrey Dahmer, you know, the serial killer who was murdered in prison. They fear something like that with Ariel Castro because of his notoriety.

BALDWIN: OK. And then let's talk about this house, this so called house of horrors. We know part of this whole deal, it will be demolished. But you're hearing, they're going to be taking extra sort of precautions, extra care with the items inside. Why is that?

SAVIDGE: Right. It's mainly because this community is so sensitive about in any way these women being victimized again. And what they mean by that is that they are worried that somebody could, as the house is demolished, try to take, I don't know, part of the house or some of the contents that were in that house and use it as a kind of twisted souvenir.

BALDWIN: Oh.

SAVIDGE: So as they demolish that house, it's loaded into trucks. Those trucks are going to be escorted to parts unknown. And there that debris is going to be mixed with other general demolition debris and eventually sifted off and sent to some place to be disposed of. So they are going to work very hard to make sure that it doesn't fall into improper hands.

The whole thing will take about a day. They will then bring in dirt, fill in the basement, grade the site, put down seed, add a little landscaping and eventually, they say, it will be up to the community and above all the victims to determine how that property will be used. Maybe a playground, maybe a park or something that the community can put to good use.

BALDWIN: Start anew on Seymour Avenue. Martin Savidge in Cleveland. Martin, thank you very much.

Coming up, the state of Texas running out of the drug used to administer lethal injections. What does that mean for people on death row and the alternative methods being considered? That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: If you take acetaminophen, heads up, the Food and Drug Administration has a new warning you need to know about today. The watchdog agency says that the popular pain reliever, you know it's the ingredient in Tylenol, can cause a potentially fatal skin reaction in rare cases. The FDA says more than 100 cases have been documented. This goes all the way back, actually, to 1969, including a dozen deaths. The reaction include flu-like symptoms, a rash, maybe some blistering on the skin, blindness and damage to internal organs.

Texas has two executions set for next month, but state officials say they're running out of the drug used in lethal injections. CNN crime and justice correspondent Joe Johns joins me now.

And, Joe, what drug is this and why the shortage?

JOE JOHNS, CNN CRIME AND JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Well, you know, let me just set it up for you a little bit. Texas, far and away, executes more inmates than any other state, Brooke. They've executed 11 people just this year. They do it by lethal injection.

And the drug you asked, it's something called Pentobarbital. They only have about a month's supply of this drug left. Enough of the drug for three or four more injections tops. They're not scheduled to execute anybody in August, but they could run out in September or October.

Now, what's the problem? The problem is, the suppliers of lethal injection drugs get pressure from critics of the death penalty to stop making the drugs available. And also European manufacturers of Pentobarbital have actually protested the use of their product in executions, Brooke.

BALDWIN: So then, if they're obviously running out of this, are there alternatives? What are they?

JOHNS: Yes. You have to think outside the box on excuses here, I guess. Georgia, Arkansas, South Dakota and Tennessee have all tried to get around this in the first place by just keeping the names of the suppliers secret so they don't get boycotted or whatever. Missouri has actually talked about switching drugs and going to Propofol, which you'll remember is the drug believed to have killed Michael Jackson.

BALDWIN: Michael Jackson.

JOHNS: But it's never been used in an execution before. The courts still have to approve use of the drug for that purpose. Missouri, by the way, is even considering going back to the gas chamber as the main form of execution in their state.

BALDWIN: Wow.

JOHNS: They'd be the first state in the nation to go back that far. Right now it's the default punishment inmates can choose if they don't want lethal injection, Brooke.

BALDWIN: Gas chamber.

JOHNS: I know.

BALDWIN: Wow.

JOHNS: Hard to believe. BALDWIN: Joe Johns, it is hard to believe. Joe, thank you very much.

Coming up, the hit TV show "Glee." they have certainly taken on a lot of controversial, tough subjects in the past. But for the cast, this one could be the toughest of them all. Back in two minutes.

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